Rendevouz
by kittyonnails
Summary: Dismal look at a potential past for Ranma and Akane


"Rendezvous"

Ranma½ Fanfiction 

By: Noriko Hirano

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Akane Tendo stands on the street corner in the rain. Though she is not the sixteen-year-old girl we know, she is clearly herself. Fine lines mark the passage of a happy life behind her, but her eyes glow with nervous anticipation as she peeks out from under her dark umbrella. She grasps at her gold locket, bearing the silver initials A.S. catching herself, she seems surprised at the necklace's presence. Self-consciously, she tucks in into her collar.

A man, clearly Ranma, approaches her from under another umbrella. They exchange words, unheard over the pounding of the spring shower, before entering an nearby restaurant.

"It has certainly been a long time, hasn't it?" Akane comments lightly, hanging her wet coat and umbrella on a nearby rack. "Ten years"

"Have you remarried?" Ranma asks, ignoring and acknowledging her comment in one phrase.

"No. You?" Akane visibly braces for the answer.

"No." She turns to face him, a pleasantly surprised look on her face, but he is following the waiter to a table. THE conversation resumes only after they have ordered their coffee.

"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about Akane?"

"It's been a long time, perhaps you'd better call me Miss Tendo."

'Maybe so, but that doesn't answer the question."

"Mr. Saotome, as I'm sure you remember, when we were married, my father left us that house and the dojo. It has been sitting empty since…uh….How long did you stay after I left?"

"Two months, Miss Tendou. I was hoping you'd come back."

"Then it's safe to say ten years?"

"yes."

"you…Uh…You really waited that long all alone in the at big house?"

"Yes."

"Why? Why did you wait at home instead of coming after me?"

"Akane-"

"Miss. Tendo"

"Miss Tendou, you specifically said not to follow you. Then you threw the table at me."

"I'm sorry about that. Did I hurt you?"

"No. Kinda funny isn't it, you did the same thing when you met me."

"I didn't think it was funny. I still don't."

"You're right, it's not funny."

A long moment of silence follows. They both fumble uncomfortably in the unpleasant sound, letting it seep into the fabric of their clothing and spoil their desserts.

"Back to the matter at hand, Mr. Saotome, we really ought to do something about that property. Since neither of us lives their or uses it in any way, I think we should sell it."

"okay, I agree."

"Well, that's settled then." Akane looks out the window, looking for a way to excuse herself, a way to get away from the feelings she refuses to acknowledge.

"What've you been doing Akane?"

"Mr. Saotome—"

"Would you just call me Ranma?"

"Okay, r-Ranma, I'm an actress with a small local company, and I help Kasumi and her family. I still live with Oneesama." Ranma nods.

"Good for you. I've still got a school. I…uh, I just didn't want…I, It's just somewhere else now." He stumbles over the phrase and looks relieved at having finished. "It's still in Narita."

"I understand. that house has too many memories for one person to stay there alone."

"It's not the memories Akane." Ranma takes a more serious tone than before, staring her in the eyes with his large blue ones. "As long as I lived there, you were with me. When you left, it just wasn't my house anymore. I feel guilty for leaving it alone, but I'd feel the same way living there without you." Akane struggles to avert her eyes, but she can feel his gaze on her back as she fishes money out of her purse.

"I'm late, I've got to go Ranma." She spits in a flustered rush, "Goodbye" 

"Don't say Goodbye, not to me Akane."

"It's too late Ranma. We'll never meet like this again, we may never meet again."

"Why do you still wear that?" Ranma asks abruptly, noticing her nervous hands fiddling with the locket. She sits back down and looks at the necklace before unclasping it. Holding the frail chain and dully glittering locket in her palm, she looks up, straight into his eyes.

"Dad gave it to me when we were married, remember? After he died, after the fight, It always represented that I had given up my married life of my own free will. I…I missed you a lot after I left, but I came to think of you more as the protective Kami of the locket than of my ex-husband. I'm late." She leaves the booth in one fluid motion and pays the cashier quickly.

"Akane!" Ranma fumbles with his wallet and quickly pays the cashier before running out into the rain, "Akane!"

Akane turns to face the high voice calling her name, "Ohmigods." She whispers under her breath, dropping her umbrella and covering her mouth as Ranma catches up to her. SHE turns and runs off into the rain, the sound of her shoes hitting the pavement in the uneven footsteps of a frightened run echoing over the rain. A black umbrella lies open and discarded on the pavement next to a girl who doesn't look a day over sixteen. "Akane~" Ranma falls to her knees in tears, hugging the necklace close to her.

***Ranma½****Ranma½***Ranma½***Ranma½***

All characters are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi.


End file.
